Porter Mason A, Mucha Peter J, Newman M E J, Warmbrand Casey M
School of Mathematics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0160, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005 May 17;102(20):7057-62. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0500191102. Epub 2005 May 16.
Network theory provides a powerful tool for the representation and analysis of complex systems of interacting agents. Here, we investigate the U.S. House of Representatives network of committees and subcommittees, with committees connected according to "interlocks," or common membership. Analysis of this network reveals clearly the strong links between different committees, as well as the intrinsic hierarchical structure within the House as a whole. We show that network theory, combined with the analysis of roll-call votes using singular value decomposition, successfully uncovers political and organizational correlations between committees in the House without the need to incorporate other political information.
网络理论为表示和分析相互作用主体的复杂系统提供了一个强大的工具。在此,我们研究了美国众议院委员会和小组委员会的网络,各委员会根据“连锁关系”(即共同成员身份)相互连接。对该网络的分析清楚地揭示了不同委员会之间的紧密联系,以及众议院整体内部固有的层级结构。我们表明,网络理论与使用奇异值分解的唱名表决分析相结合,成功地揭示了众议院各委员会之间的政治和组织关联,而无需纳入其他政治信息。